RedHawks Reign After Memorable Round in the Rain

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How would you describe the perfect weather conditions for playing a round of golf?

Well, take whatever you're thinking of right now, and the elements on Tuesday at Holliday Farms in Zionsville, Ind. for the final 18 holes of the MAC Championships were basically the OPPOSITE of that. Miami Golf at MAC Championships

"It was raining: It was terrible weather and the course was underwater," Miami coach JD Fletcher said later. "It was windy. It was cold: I think it was 37 degrees when we finished. And we just had a smile our face the whole day and we accepted the challenge.

"A lot of the guys were like, 'This is MACtion. This is what we want. This is what we asked for.'"

The RedHawks entered the day trailing Eastern Michigan by one stroke, but slogged and grinded their way to a convincing victory to claim their first conference title since 2015, finishing the event seven shots ahead of runner-up Northern Illinois.

(Exactly how bad were the wet conditions? To try and put the sloppy course into perspective: Even though EMU held the lead after 36 holes, the Eagles were 30 over par in the final day of competition alone!)

Miami used a workmanlike finish to close out the tournament despite only shooting one total birdie on the back nine Tuesday, a two from Tyler Anderson at No. 17. The RedHawks got another special 54-hole performance from rising star Liam Nelson, who won the individual title with a score of four over par for his third victory of the year, and benefited from a solid, balanced showing up and down the entire lineup.

The RedHawks headed to Zionsville with an unofficial motto of 'Five Strong,' and that clearly came to fruition on the tournament scoreboard. All five Miami golfers produced top-20 finishes, with Cameron Pero (+10) tying Ball State's Happy Gilmore (yes, really) and Avery Mahoney for 10th place, while Anderson (+11), Brett Podobinski (+12) and Michael Weber (+13) were each only one stroke apart.

"I was confident in our team," said Pero, who wrapped up his final round with a solid string of eight straight pars to help the Red and White cross the finish line. "And we were licking our chops, looking at the weather before the final round, because we knew we wanted this bad. A little bit of weather wasn't going to [get] in our way." Miami Golf MAC Champions 2026

"It was a super nerve-wracking day," Podobinski added. "On that course, there was just trouble everywhere. You could make double [bogeys] on every hole, pretty much. So it took a lot of mental strain to just keep your head in the game, focus on every shot…and just keep plugging along."

"We were good at just feeding off of each other," said Weber, who collected the lowest round of the tournament with a 67 on Monday. "We all felt pretty comfortable and just gave each other the energy and confidence that we all needed."

The victory marked a storybook ending to the Mid-American Conference careers for the senior trio of Pero, Podobinski and Weber – the first-ever recruiting class for Fletcher once he returned to his alma mater in 2021 to take the reins of the program.

"Really excited to have them finish their careers that way," Fletcher smiled. "It was super-special."

"We all wanted to get it done for them," Nelson said. "We were super-amped going into it [with] the whole year just kind of building up to this moment. To actually get it done, I think, was super-relieving."

Miami Golf family

Nelson became the first Miami golfer since Maarten van den Berg in 1996 to claim medalist honors at the conference championships and help the Red and White to a MAC team title in the same season. He was named to the All-Tournament Team for his efforts, while Weber became the seventh different RedHawk in the last decade to bring home the Earl Yestingsmeier Sportsmanship Award and Fletcher was recognized as the Kermit Blosser MAC Coach of the Year.

"There's just so many people involved in the program —support staff, administration, alumni, coaches, players, families— and you just want the best outcome for all of them," a visibly emotional Fletcher explained as he thought back to the final moments of Tuesday's round.

"I just told them to enjoy the moment…it was a RedHawk win in true fashion."

With the MAC trophy safely secured in Oxford, Fletcher's group now turns its attention to the next challenge on the schedule: A trip to the NCAA Regionals. Miami will travel south to the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas May 18-20 to try and claim a top-five team finish and advance to the championship finals (May 29-June 3 in Carlsbad, Calif.) for the first time this century. The RedHawks' regional assignment includes four programs from the Lone Star State (top-seeded Texas, Texas A&M, TCU and UTRGV) as well as familiar Power Four brands like North Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado and Cincinnati in the 14-team field. 2026 MAC Championships Miami Golf

"There's definitely some good competition. We've got to come to play next week," Podobinski nodded.

"[This opportunity] means a lot. It's been 11 years since we've been to regionals, and being able to compete against those teams and take them down and punch our ticket to the national championship would be certainly special."

Although the RedHawks aren't yet familiar with the course they'll be playing in Bryan (and haven't competed in the state of Texas since February 2025), Fletcher said they'll start doing their homework right away by looking for similar courses in the Cincinnati area to practice at over the next week (and even researching the Traditions Club layout on Google Earth to glean any intel that might be helpful in preparation).

They might just check the long-range weather forecast too. But then again, after the soaking-wet success at Holliday Farms, why bother?

Miami Golf 2026 MAC Champions

Rain or shine, whatever the temperature: there's zero doubt the red-hot Red and White will be ready when NCAA play tees off in a week-and-a-half.

"We're looking forward to it," said Nelson. "There's obviously a lot of great teams there, and [we're] just super-pumped to get there and show everyone what we can do."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

Miami Golf will compete in the NCAA Regionals in Bryan, Texas May 18-20; follow the live scoring throughout the tournament on the MiamiRedHawks.com schedule page.

RedHawks Reign After Memorable Round in the Rain

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